Apparatus for aiming and launching automobile torpedoes.



G. C. DAV-ISBN.- APPARATUS FOR AIMING AND LAUNCHING AUTOMOBILETORPEDOES.

APPLICATION FILED DEC.5; 1914.

Patented May14,1918. 3 SHEETS-SHEET 1- v a. c. DAVISON. APPARATUSFORAIMING AND LAUNCHING AUTOMOBILE- TORPEDOES.

APPLXCATION FILED DEC. 5, i914.

Patented May14,1918.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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WITNESSES:

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ATTO RN EY 5 G. C. DAVISON. APPARATUS FOR AIMING AND LAU NCHINGAUTOMOBILE TORPEDQES. APPLICATION FILED DEC.5. 1914.

1,265,753. Patented May 14, 1918.

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. INVENTOR Q r'qgo y, Cfla 7/50 0 ATTORNEY- GEE.

GREGORY CALDWELL DAVISON, 'OF NEW LONDON, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO ELEC-TRIO BOAT COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. 1., A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

APPARATUS FOR AIIVIING AND LAUNCHING AUTOMOBILE TORPEDOES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 14, 1918.

Application filed December 5, 1914. Serial No. 875,565.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GREGORY C. DAVISON, a citizen of the United States,residing at and whose post-office address is New London, county of NewLondon, State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Apparatus for Aiming and Launching Auto-mobileTorpedoes; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear,andexact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilledin the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to apparatus for launching automobile torpedoeswith their steering devices set for a course to a mark at the moment oflaunching.v The invention consists in producing an adjustment of one ofthe relatively movable parts of the well known gyroscopic steering gearof an automobile torpedo by the movements of training a sighting device,such as a periscope which is rotatable upon a vertical axis, while thetorpedo is at rest in the launching tube, making it possible to adjustthe steering device by the aiming device at the time up to the instantat which the discharge of the torpedo from the tube is commenced. Theinvention further relates to the arrange ment of the operativeconnection between the aiming device and the gyroscopic steering gear ofthe torpedo whereby the aiming device is in line with the mark when theproper ad ustment of the gyroscopic steering gear is effective to insurethe course of the torpedo to the mark.

The invention further contemplates a combination of the just describednew ap paratus for aiming torpedoes with the apparatus for launchingtorpedoes describe; in my United States Patents, Nos- 1,122,699 and1,122,700, granted December 29, 1914:. In carrying out the invention Iemploy apparatus comprising an under water launching tube provided witha suitable yieldable training device by means of which it may be trainedfor projecting a torpedo broadside from a moving vessel at a, suitableangle to clear the ship and yet yield to the lateral pressure or thewater upon the torpedo as it protrudes from and tends to bind in themuzzle of the tube, an aiming or sighting device, such as a eriscope,rotatable upon a vertical axis-and located at a convenient place, and anoperative connection between the periscope and the gyroscopic steeringgear within a torpedo which is at rest in the tube, whereby the parts ofthe gyroscopic steering gear of the torpedo will be adjusted to controlthe course of the torpedo to a mark upon which the sighting device istrained at the moment of launching. Sundry mechanical arrangementsresulting in the correct adjustment of the steering gear of the torpedoby the sighting device irrespective of the position of the tube, andwhich allow the connection between the sighting device and the torpedowithin the tube to be broken when the torpedo is launched, leaving theadjustment of the steering gear which prevails at the time theconnection is broken, are also included within. the purview of thepresent invention.

I have illustrated in the accompanying drawings, apparatus designedtocarry out the invention in connection with tubes mounted below thewater line within the hull of a vessel with their muzzles pivoted in theside walls of the hull, and also in connec tion with the tubes mountedupon the deck of a submersible boat.

In the drawings, Figure 1, is a plan view of a torpedo tube mountedwithin the hull of a ship with its muzzle pivoted in the side wall ofthe .hull below the water line, and apparatus suitable for the practiceof this invention applied thereto, the housing and wall'of the hullbeing broken away adjacent the muzzle of the tube.

Fig. ,2, is a side elevation of the breech end of atube, the Walls ofwhich are broken to expose a contained torpedo, the walls of the torpedobeing in turn broken away to expose the contained mechanisms of thetorpedo.

Fig. 3, is a detail line 33 of Fig. 2.

Fig. i, is a detail section taken on line H of Fig. 1.

, Fig.- 5, is a plan of the second application of the invention, whereintwin tubes are mounted upon a trunk pivot upon-the deck section taken onthe of a submersible boat and are provided with ference characters Inthe drawings, like re 'ts in both inst-allaindicate equivalent paltions.

Referring to the drawings, and particularly to the installation shown.in Figs. 1, 2, 3 and a, a torpedo tube has its muzzle pivoted in a halland socket joint B in the side wall Z) of a ships hull and the bulk ofthe weight of the tube is supported on a wheeled carriage G which runsupon a track l), this track having the form of an arc struck from thecenter of the ball and socket joint B. The track D is provided with arack {Z which is engaged by pinion 0 carried on the carriage C. Thepinion c is rotated by hand wheel E through a worm and worm wheel and afriction clutch contained in a housing a on the carriage C. The wormdrive permits of the easy training of the tube by the hand wheel E andthe friction clutch which connects this drive with the pinion u willtransmit the power necessary for manuall training the tube, but willslip and allow the tube to be moved by the pressure of the water on theside of the protruding nose of an issuing torpedo. 2i periscope F, orother sighting device, is located at any convenient place, and isprovided with a worm wheel G engaged by a worm g. The worm g is providedwith a crank g and the periscope may be trained on an object by rotatingthis crank, and when this is done a miter gear 7" is rotated with theperiscope F. The miter gear f meshes with a miter gear 71 which fastupon a shaft H and a miter gear it fast upon the opposite end of theshaft H meshes with a miter gear fast upon the upper end of a verticalshaft T mounted in a bearing on a stationary bracket it. its theperiscope F is turned, the shaft T is urned a like amount. The bearingof the shaft I in the bracket R is in line with the axis upon which thetube A turns when it is caused to travel upon the track D, or, in otherwords, the vertical axis of the ball and socket joint l3.

In Fig. 2 a torpedo I; is shown at rest in the tube A. The gyroscopicsteering gear a; of the torpedo X is adjusted to determine the coursethe torpedo is to follow by the rotation of a vertical shaft P. A 'nitergear fastupon the upper end of the vertical shaft P meshes with a mitergear 0 fast on a. horizontal shaft 0 which protrudes rearwardly from theshell of the torpedo X in a line parallel with the axis of the torpedo.

In the well known gyroscopic steering gear usually employed inautomobile torpedoes, the two movable valve elements, that which moveswith the gyroscope and that which may be adjusted to determine thecourse, constitute the two relatively movable components of thegyroscopic steering gear which are hereinafter referrel to. Tn ord r todetermine the "course of the torpedo, one

of these components is moved relatively to the other, so that a certainrelation exists case the gyroscope will have a fixed relation withrespect to the axis of the torpedo at the time it is released.'Whichever of the components of the gyroscopic steering gear is chosento be set in order to determine the course of the torpedo, that elementwill, in

my apparatus, be connected for angular movement by the vertical shaft Pwithin the torpedo, and therefore, rotation imparted to the saaft Oprotruding through the shell of the torepdo X willrotate this element ofthe steering gear to a position in which it is intended it shall remainwhen the shaft Q ceases to rotate. The protruding end of the shaft 9 issquared or otherwise provided with means where y it may belongitudinally engaged and disengaged with a. member individually toimpart angular movement to it.

A bracket g is pivoted transversely of the tube X in a horizontalbearing and may be swung from its position indicated in dotted lines in2 to that shown in full lines in said figure. The bracket 9 carries ashaft 1*? which is provided with a socket hearing to engage with thesquared protruding end of the shaft 0 when the bracket g is in theposition shown in full lines in Fig. 2. ltwill be seen that theengagement of the. socket end of the shaft N and the squared protrudingend of the shaft 0 will be broken upon theinitial movement of thetorpedo X in the tube when about to be expelled from the tube. A mitergear a fast on the shaft if meshes with a miter gear m fast on a shaft M'journaled in the bracket g, and a miter gear on fast on'the shaft ifmeshes with a miter gear Z fast on a shaft L journaled in the bracket 9coaxially with the pivotal bearing upon which the bracket g turns. Amiter gear Z fast on a protruding end of the shaft L meshes with a mitergear it fast onone end of a shaft K. spur gear 7.". fast on the otherend of the shaft K engages a like spur gear fast on a shaft 3, and amiter gear j fast on the shaft J meshes with a miter gear 2" fast on thelower end of the shaft 1. The shafts K and J are journaled in a bracketS projecting from the tube A. adjacent the ball and socket joint 3. Acrank 9 fast on the bracket 9' is pivoted to a rod Q, the end of whichrod Q is abutted by the breech closure (4 of the tube A. When the breechclosure 62 is closed the rod Q. is pushed forwardly, throwing thebracket g downwardly into the position shown in full lines in Fig. 2, inwhich position the shaft N engages with the shaft 0 on the torpedo. Whenthe breech closure a of the tube is open a spring 9 forces the rod Qbackwardly, throwing the bracket 9 upwardly into a recess T in the wallof the tube A and out of the way of a torpedo being extracted orinserted from or into the tube A, through its breech.

The train of shafting and gearing from tle periscope F to the shafts Oand P within the torpedo, having a ratio of 1 to 1 throughout, thesteering gear component driven by the shaft P within the torpedo willalways maintain a parallel relatimiship with the periscope, while theplanetary arrangement of the miter gear rolling about the miter gear a"when the tube is angularly moved upon its pivots produces a transla tiononly of the movable component of the gyroscopic steering gear within thetorpedo, making it'possible to move the tube A to any position withoutinterfering with the condition of parallelism existing between theperiscope F and the component of the steering gear of the torpedo whichis moved by the periscope.

The twin tubes shown in. Figs. 5 and 6 are equipped with identically thesame apparatus for effecting the movement of the movable component ofthe gyroscopic steering gear from a periscope or other sighting deviceand the equivalent parts are given like designating characters in all ofthe figures of the drawings.

The operation of the apparatus shown in Figs. 1 to it in carrying outthe method herein described is as follows: The breech it of'the tube Abeing open permits the spring to throw the bracket 9 upwardly into therecess T in the wall of the tube A leaving the bore of the tubeunobstructed for the introduction of a torpedo. The torpedo is theninserted into the tube to its proper position therein, and the breechclosure a closed driving the rod Q forwardly and throwing the bracket qdownwardly to engage the shaft N with the shaft 0 of the torpedo. Properprecautions should be taken at the time the tube is loaded to have theshafts N and O in such relative positions that when they are en gagedthe periscope and the movable component of the torpedo steering gearwill be connected in their proper parallel relation. hen it is desiredto fire the torpedo at a mark. the peris'cope or equivalent sightingdevice is aimed at the mark thereby setting the movable component of thetorpedo steering for a course in that direction. The sighting device isheld upon the mark while the gyroscope is spun up and its rotor releasedin the usual way and until the fluid for expelling the torpedo from thetube has been admitted to the tube in firing and an initial movement ofthe torpedo in the tube accomplished. This initial movement of thetorpedo in the tube breaks the connection between the shafts N and Oleaving that component of the steering gear of the torpedo which hasbeen aimed in the position which it occupied at the moment of thebreaking of this connection, and the torpedo will travel to the mark assoon as it is permitted free moven'ient after leaving the tube. Thismethod of aiming while being applicable to launching tubes located abovethe water is particularly adapted for tubes from which the torpedo isejected directly into the water under its surface, in which case themaintenance of the parallelism between the movable component of thesteering gear within the torpedo and the sighting device irrespective ofthe position or movement of the tube becomes a prominent factor in themethod of aiming and launching. When the torpedo is. launched underwater from a moving vessel in a direction transverse of the direction ofmovement of the vessel, the tube is permitted to be moved by the torpedowhen the rush of the water against the protruding nose of the issuingtorpedo tends to bind the torpedo in the muzzle of the tube, thuspreventing injury to the torpedo. According to the course which thetorpedo has been set to take relative to the position and direction ofmovement of the vessel the tube is trained by the hand wheel IQ upon thetrack D to a point froinwhich it will be moved by the torpedo as itissues, the interposition of the friction connection in the traininggear permitting this, and as the point upon the track D to which thetorpedo tube is moved by the hand wheel 1*) is not always the same, itwill be seen. that the provision of the devices for effecting atranslation of the movable component of the steering gear within thetorpedo upon the movement of the tube becomes of great importance toavoid disturbance, when the tube is moved, of the parallel relationexisting between the movable component of the torpedo. steering deviceand the periscope or aiming device.

What I claim is:

1. The combination with an angularly movable torpedo launching-tube, ofan automobile torpedo having gyroscopic steering gear, and a connectionfrom the gyroscopic steering gear to the tube including means actuatedupon angular movement of the tube to convert the accompanying movementof the training component of the gyroscopic steering gear into amovement of translation, whereby the steering gear remains set for acourse to the mark irrespective of the position of the tube;substantially as described.

2. The combination with a vessel, of a torpedo laLuic-hing-tube mountedto dischargeits torpedo transversely of the direction of movement of thevessel and below the suri'ace of the water, said launching tube beingfree to move angularly with the torpedo during such discharge and beingnormally uninliuenced by the movement of the vessel rough be water,whereby, as the torpedo res into the water its tendency to bind in zlcof the launching tube is met and suppre std by an accompanying angularmovement of the tube, an automobile torpedo in the tube havin gyroscopicsteering and a to: nection from the gyroscopic no gear to the tubeincluding means upon angular movement of the tube the rwcompanyingmovement of iit'i i 121 i to eon the t steering gear into a movement ofthe t anslation, whereby the steering gear remains settor a course tothe marl; irrespective of the position of the tube; substantially described.

3. 'lhe combination with a torpedo, having a gyroscopic steering deviceand setting means therefor, arranged in such manner that the relativepositions of cooperating parts of he steering device at the moment ofdisconn .cting the setting means determine the course the torpedo willtake, of a holder in which the torpedo rests, and a sighting instrumentestablishing a setting of the steering device tor a course in thedirection of the line of sight of said instrument, said instrument beingmounted for movement indepei'ident of such holder and operativelyconnected with the setting means for the gyroscopic steering device;substantially as described.

l. The combination with a torpedo launching tube having a breech door,of an automobile torpedo equipped with gyroscopic steering gear havingcooperating parts the re ative position of which determines the coursethe torpedo will take, setting means for the steering gear mounted inthe tube and adapted upon the closing of the breech door to come intooperative connection with one oi said parts, and upon the opening of thebreech door to swing out 01"- the path of a torpedo moving into thetube, and a sighting instrument mounted for movement independent of thetube and operatively connected with the said set-ting means.

The combination of a torpedo launch- Eng component of the gyroscopic 1ing tube for automobile torpedoes having gyroscopic steering gear, anaiming device and means adaptedto operatively connect said aiming devicewith the gyroscopic ering gear of a torpedo at rest in said tube in suchmanner that said steering gear is trained with said aiming device;substantially described.

lhe combination of a pivoted torpedo launching tube for automobiletorpedoes having gyrcscopic steering gear an aiming device, and anoperative mechanical connection extending from said aiming device to apoint within the bore of said tube, said connection being adapted tooperatively engage with the gyroscopic steering gear of the torpedo atrest in said tube and being provided with a planetary articulationco-axial with the pivot of said tube and arranged to etlect angularmovements of the gyroscopic steering gear within the torpedo uponangular movement of the aiming novice and translatory movement of thegyroscopic steering gear upon angular movement of the tube;substantially as described.

T. An apparatus for controlling torpedo firing comprising sightingmeans, a torpedo, directitan-maintaining apparatus for the torpedo, andmeans controlled by said sighting means to modify the action or saiddirectionmaintaining apparatus upon said torpedo.

S. in an apparatus for controlling torpedo firing, a basal support for atorpedo,

torpedo having steering means, and directimrcontrolling means for saidsteering means, sighting means adapted to be trained upon the object tobe attacked, and means whereby the training of said sighting meansmodifies the action of said direction-controlling means of the torpedo.

9. An apparatus for controlling torpedo firing comprising a basalsupport for a plu rality of torpedoes, a plurality of torpedoessupported thereby, each having direction maintaining means and acentralized control for said plurality of torpedoes open ativelyassociated with and adapted to modii'y, the action of thedirection-maintaining means of said torpedoes.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature, in presence of two witnesses.

GREGGRY CALDWELL DAVISGN.

ll itnesses F. L BRAKE, E. C. Hnnonnrono.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe fiommissioner of Patents, Washington, I l 5.

